The Changeling (episode)
:This article is about a TOS episode. You may also be looking for the species, the Changelings. The Enterprise finds an ancient interstellar probe from Earth, missing for 265 years, which has somehow mutated into a powerful and intelligent machine bent on sterilizing (eliminating all life from) whole planets that do not meet its standards of perfection. Summary Teaser The is en route to the Malurian star system, investigating a distress call. Uhura has received no response to her hails, and Captain Kirk tells her to keep trying. However, Spock's data contains tragic news: although there should be 4 billion Malurians there is no sign of life in the whole system. As the crew speculates about what could have caused the eradication of life in such a short time, a large something comes out of nowhere. Kirk orders red alert, and the object impacts upon the Enterprise's shields. Act One The entire crew is hurled around, and when things stabilize, Scotty reports that the shields will stand only three more such impacts, as they have been reduced by 20%. The Enterprise's shields continue to be battered. Finally, after the shields are completely gone, Kirk orders Lieutenant Uhura to hail the object. The object hears Kirk's name, and it somehow believes that Kirk is its creator. It identifies itself as Nomad, a probe whose mission is to seek out life and sterilize it of imperfections. Kirk has it beamed aboard, if only to prevent it from firing on the ship again. Act Two Once on board, Nomad wastes no time investigating the ship, with only Kirk's orders preventing it from having free rein. Knowing how powerful it is, Kirk orders guards to watch it at all times, but Nomad proves able to evade them. Furthermore, it seem highly logically-minded and gets confused whenever it encounters something illogical; when it hears Uhura singing on the bridge, and goes to investigate, it is unsatisfied with her explanation of the song's function and wipes her memory, requiring her to be reeducated. Scotty, seeing this, attempts to save Uhura from the probe, but is killed by it, only to be revived by it shortly thereafter. Act Three This proves disconcerting to Kirk, who orders Nomad to be guarded and analyzed by Spock. After the analysis, a background check on Nomad in the ship's data banks, and a mind meld, Spock gets enough details about the probe to fill in the blanks; Originally, Nomad was built by Jackson Roykirk for a deep-space extraterrestrial contact mission, but was lost in a meteor shower. During that time, it came into contact with Tan Ru, an alien probe whose mission was to collect and sterilize soil samples, presumably for terraforming missions. The two melded into this new Nomad, combining their technology and missions into one extremely powerful probe bent on sterilizing any imperfect lifeforms it encountered, using its own perceptions of perfection (i.e. itself) as a measuring stick. As such, it destroyed all life in the Malurian star system, but because its original programming was damaged and corrupted in the merger, it erroneously equates Kirk with its creator, not realizing that the two are different people and its creator is, in fact, long dead. Unfortunately, the mind meld and an unintentional admittance from Kirk confirms to Nomad that its creator is an imperfect biological entity, and with that knowledge, it decides to commandeer the ship and execute its prime function, turning off all life support on the ship. With little time left, Kirk comes to a realization about Nomad and takes a gamble to confront it again. Act Four Through a questioning to Nomad on its prime directive, Kirk confirms his suspicions that it must execute it with no exceptions, and then reveals that he is not Nomad's creator. He explains that Nomad had mistaken himself for Roykirk, the two men's names being similar, and as such Nomad has committed an error; furthermore, it has compounded that error with two more, specifically failing to realize its mistake and failing to immediately execute its prime directive as a result. This causes Nomad to lock up in an irreversible logic loop, its stubborn belief that it is perfect conflicting with the realization that it is in error, and Spock and Kirk manage to get it to the transporter and beam it into space just as it executes its prime function on itself. Log entries *''"Captain's log, stardate 3541.9. The presence of Nomad aboard my ship has become nightmarish. Now, it apparently means to return to Earth. Once there, it would automatically destroy all life."'' Memorable Quotes "That unit is defective. Its thinking is chaotic. Absorbing it unsettled me." "That 'unit' is a woman." "A mass of conflicting impulses." : - Nomad and Spock "The unit Spock is another one of your biological units, creator?" "Yes." "This one is different; it is well-ordered." : - Nomad and Kirk "I am Nomad... I am performing... my function... Deep... emptiness... ''it approaches... Collision... damage... blackness... I am "the other"... I am Tan Ru... Tan Ru... Nomad... Tan Ru... Error... flaw... imperfection... must sterilize... Rebirth... we are complete... much power... Gan-ta-nu... ick-ka... Tan-Ru... The creator instructs... search out... identify... sterilize imperfections... We are Nomad... we are Nomad... we are complete... We are instructed... our purpose is clear... sterilize imperfections... sterilize imperfections... Nomad... sterilize... sterilize... Nomad... sterilize..." "''Spock! SPOCK! Nomad, You are in contact with the unit Spock! STOP! STOP!" "Acknowledged." "Spock." '' (mumbling) "''Amazing..." "Spock!" (still mumbling) "Fascinating, captain... the knowledge... the depth..." : - Nomad, Kirk, and Spock, when Spock mind-melded with it "The creation of perfection is no error." : - Nomad "Congratulations, Captain; a dazzling display of logic." "You didn't think I had it in me, did you, Spock?" "No, sir." : - Spock and Kirk "I am the creator?" "You are the creator." "You're ''wrong! Jackson Roykirk, your creator, is dead. You have mistaken me for him – you are in error. You did not discover your mistake – you have made two errors. You are flawed and imperfect. And you have not corrected by sterilization – you have made three errors!" : - '''Kirk' and Nomad "We've got to get rid of it while it's trying to think." "Your logic was impeccable, Captain – we are in grave danger." : - Kirk and Spock, after Nomad realizes its error "Nomad – you are imperfect!" "Error! Error!" "Exercise your prime function!" "Faulty! Faulty! Must sterilize! – STER-I-LIZE!" : - Kirk, delivering the coup de grâce before beaming Nomad out "...It's 'space-happy!' It thinks I'm its... mother." "And that is the only thing that has saved us until now." : - Kirk and Spock "It's not easy to lose a bright and promising son." "Sir?" "Well, it thought I was its mother didn't it? Do you think I am completely without feelings Mr. Spock? You saw what it did to Scotty. What a doctor it would have made. (Pause) My son, the doctor. (Hits heart) Gets you right there." : - Kirk and Spock about Nomad Background Information * Although never credited, this episode—which depicted an Earth-launched space probe that acquires almost unimaginable powers in the course of the search for its "Creator"—became the inspiration behind the [[Star Trek: The Motion Picture|first Star Trek film]]. (It also inspired "The Questor Tapes", a 1974 series pilot written by Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon which also featured a robot with a damaged memory who searched for its creator.) * Also never credited, the idea behind this episode was inspired by the last episode of the original version of The Outer Limits. That episode, called "The Probe" (with Janos Prohaska, in a Horta-like rubber suit, and Mark Richman), featured an alien automated probe which headed for Earth after apparently encountering one of our deep space exploration devices. As in the Trek episode, the probe nearly kills everyone because of its imperative to sterilize. * Director Marc Daniels portrays Jackson Roykirk in the photograph, wearing Scotty's dress uniform. * Eddie Paskey is seen in a gold shirt in this episode so he would match the standard stock footage screen shot with George Takei and an extra's left shoulder. In a few first season shows, he is seen wearing gold in the hallways during Kirk-to-crew announcements. * Lemli's first name, Roger, is given in this episode. His last name wouldn't be revealed until the following season, in . * After Nomad explodes, William Shatner quickly raises his hand to the camera as the scene fades away. An outtake of this scene is incorporated into the blooper reel of the show's second season: At one point, Shatner turns to the camera and declares, "Listen, about that bacon—no, really!" and then appears to swallow something. HIs comment follows an earlier outtake wherein, sitting in the captain's chair on the bridge, he confides, "No, listen, that bacon is really bad . . . it just stays with you all night." * Also in the blooper reel: When Shatner tells Nomad that the Enterprise is prepared to beam it aboard, James Doohan says, "But Captain – you forgot all about the environment and all that stuff. Do you want to really do that?" A grinning Doohan steps out of camera frame, leaving a slightly perplexed Shatner behind, bemusedly shaking his head. Doohan did not deliberately ruin the take, however. It was already ruined since Shatner actually did forget to say the dialog concerning the environment. * Stock footage of Nomad exiting the turbolift is used to show him leaving sickbay. * When the two security guards shoot Nomad for not obeying them, the visual effects artists apparently used the door frame behind the guards as a guideline for the boundary of Nomad's shields. This has the unfortunate effect of making it seem as if the guards' phaser beams are striking the door frame. * Spock mentions that Nomad s first attack on the Enterprise was the equivalent of 90 photon torpedoes. Surprisingly, this attack only reduced the shields by 20%. * Surprisingly, too, Uhura is re-educated within a matter of days, presumably with all her memories intact as well. * This episode marks one of four times Kirk is able to "discuss a computer to death". This technique is also used in , , and , and was similarly done to a robot in * Even though this episode is stated to take place on stardate 3541.9, the episode list from the official website says it takes place on stardate 3451.9. Production timeline * Story outline by John Meredyth Lucas, * Revised story outline by John Meredyth Lucas, * First draft script, * Filmed early to mid-July 1967 Video and DVD releases * UK VHS release (CIC-Arena Video): catalogue number VHL 2057, . :This release included and was originally unrated, as it was released prior to the . After , it received a rating of PG. * Original US Betamax release: . * UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 20, catalogue number VHR 2353, release date unknown. * US VHS release: . * UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 2.3, . * Original US DVD release (single-disc): Volume 19, . * As part of the TOS Season 2 DVD collection. Links and references Starring * William Shatner as Captain Kirk Also Starring * Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock * DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy Featuring * James Doohan as Scott * Nichelle Nichols as Uhura * George Takei as Sulu * Majel Barrett as Christine Chapel With * Blaisdell Makee as Singh * Barbara Gates as a Crewwoman * Meade Martin as a Crewman * Arnold Lessing as Security Guard :And: * Vic Perrin as Nomad's voice Uncredited Co-Stars * William Blackburn as Hadley * Frank da Vinci as: ** Brent ** Vinci * Roger Holloway as Roger Lemli * Jeannie Malone as Yeoman * Eddie Paskey as Leslie Stunt double * Jay Jones as stunt double for James Doohan References analysis sector; anatomy; antigrav; antimatter input valve; auxiliary control room; ball; Beyond Antares; binary; biological unit; brain; brig; central nervous system; changeling (folklore); college; condition red; Creator; damper; dog; Earth; energy release control; English language; first grade reader; force field; hyperencephalogram; interfactor; International Designator; interplanetary code; kilogram; life support system; Luna; Malurians; Malurian system; manual override; Manway, Dr.; mathematics; matter-antimatter propulsion system; meter; meteor; [satellite; neurology; Nomad; parasitical beings; personnel file; physical; physiology; polymass; population; prototype; Roykirk, Jackson; ship's translator; Sol; Starfleet Academy; Starfleet code; Starfleet Command; structural integrity; Swahili language; Symbalene blood burn; Tan Ru; tape; translator computer; Vulcan mind probe Other references acquisition sensor; coupler prediction scanner; data assimilation digital encoder; Magnetohydodynamic vernier-pulse; regenerative mode emulsifier; selective amplifier screen; sperographic analysis computer; tracking screen; transmission Timeline ;2002 : Nomad built ;2267 : Malurian system destroyed External link * |next= |lastair= |nextair= |lastair_remastered= |nextair_remastered= }} Changeling, The de:Ich heiße Nomad es:The Changeling fr:The Changeling it:La sfida (episodio) ja:TOS:超小型宇宙船ノーマッドの謎 nl:The Changeling pl:The Changeling